One of the things that made the M21 a successful sniping system during the Vietnam War was the ultra-simplistic means of range estimation that would also automatically adjust the scope for ballistic drop at whatever range the scope estimated the target to be at. This was known as the Auto Ranging Telescope, or ART, and it was designed by James Leatherwood. These original ART setups on the M21 used a Redfield 3-9x scope and there were two distinct versions of the setup through the M21’s life time. The Leatherwood name now appears on a very similar setup to the original ART and it is the same concept and even carries… Read more »

Konus Optics is an Italian based company that has been around for over 30 years and produces a decent number of optical based products including, rifle scopes, binoculars, spotting scopes, microscopes and many other items. The M30 line of tactical rifle scopes, obviously, is what we are interested in the most. The M30 came on the market a few years ago and has generated some interest from the budget minded shooter that is looking for the good tactical features on a scope at a reasonable price. We have seen many other scopes that are aimed at this same market space and we received a good number of requests to review… Read more »

A while back we did a review of an excellent Zeiss Diavari V 6-24x56mm rifle scope which ended up being an excellent scope. But there is a Military division of Zeiss that deals with primarily tactical and sniper scopes for Military use. The name of this division of Zeiss is Hensoldt. Because their market is the Military and Law Enforcement units around there world, there are no real resale outlets for the average non military person to pick up a Hensoldt, that is what Zeiss Optics is for, but you can get them with some effort, even if you are not on a procurement team for an elite military agency…. Read more »

By now we are familiar with the Menace series of Falcon scopes, and this one will probably be the last one we review for a while. But we wanted to be sure we got this one out there as it is perhaps the most tactical of the Falcon lineup of scopes. Falcon Optics has been listening to what the tactical community wants and they have put it all together in a single scope. The model is the 4-14x44mm Front Focal Plane (FFP) scope. We have a pre production model here as the scopes are not scheduled to be out for another month or so This 4-14×44 version of the Menace… Read more »

We have reviewed a couple of the Falcon scopes before, both the Merlin 10×42 and its replacement, the Menace 10×42. Falcon has additional scopes in their Merlin lineup that are geared more toward hunting, but they are also now just bringing out their variable power Menace lineup which includes a 4.5-18x56mm and a 4-14x44mm Front Focal Plane (FFP) model. The one we are reviewing here is a preproduction 4.5-18x56mm model. This 4.5-18x56mm version of the Menace scope appears to be a good solid scope that shares a few of the same features as the 10×42 model. But in reality the scopes are considerably different. Of course, the two most obvious… Read more »

We reviewed our first Falcon Scope a few months back, the Merlin 10x42T tactical scope, and we liked what we saw for the price range that the scope was offered in, and we even brought some in ourselves and sold them. Since then, Falcon has continued to develop their scope lineup and they went ahead and revised their 10×42 tactical scope and upgraded it in several ways. The new scope is called the Menace 10×42 and while they considered offering both models, they ultimately decided that they could get the price close enough that they could just replace the old Merlin with the new Menace without much of a price… Read more »

You have never heard of Falcon Optics? Well, neither had we until the name, and a link popped up on the forums. Falcon Optics discovered the small discussion about their tactical scope and then contacted us to introduce themselves and tell a little about their scope. The reason we had not heard of them is because they are a U.K. based company and do not currently have many of their scopes in the USA, but they are looking to change that, and that was one of the reasons they contacted us. Arrangements were made and we received one of these scopes for review. Falcon optics makes other rifle scopes as… Read more »

Let us just say that Bushnell has come a long way over the past 20 years. In fact, just 15 years ago no one would consider using a Bushnell scope on a tactical rifle, but then they incorporated Bausch & Lomb into their business. They eventually removed the B&L name but kept their B&L 3000 and 4000 line of good quality scopes as the Bushnell Elite 3000 & 4000 line of scopes. Through the years Bushnell updated those scope lines and they became the 3200 and 4200 series. Recently they added an even higher quality line of scopes called the elite 6500 series. Through those iterations of scopes lines they… Read more »

This scope is not from one of the main stream scopes manufacturers, and was brought to our attention by several readers who were interested in purchasing one. We contacted Holland’s Shooter Supply Inc and they provided a scope for evaluation and review, as well as an instructional video, and some additional accessories to compliment the scope. This scope offers a unique way of addressing long range shooting that is a bit refreshing from the norm. It may not fit everyone, but it does work and is at least worth investigating for your needs. The Holland Tactical Elite is a very well crafted scope. It has a 30mm tube and 42mm… Read more »